Benchmark for 6.5cm 85HH

A

Anthropas

Active member
Hi all,

I was in Scheels today and was surprised by the amount of powder they had in stock. I've been working up loads for the 85gr HH in my 14" 6.5cm CVA Scout Pistol. I have Varget, but I picked up some TAC, CFE-223, and Benchmark today. Was wondering if anyone has tried Benchmark in their 6.5cm and could recommend a starting charge. I know it's pretty fast but thought I would give it a try as accuracy is more important to me than velocity. My hunting scenario is whitetails in a blind at 100 yards or less.
 
I'm the Benchmark fanboy! I would start with 38 grains. Since I am in a neck brace I don't know where my load book is. That said, I found Benchmark to shoot well in the 6.5 rifle, and I think that it would be awesome in the pistol. Pressure can build fast, so I would build ladders in no more than a half grain increment.
 
I worked up 3 pressure ladders today for Benchmark, Tac and CFE 223. My pressure ladder group for CFE 223 wasn't nearly as tight as the TAC and Benchmark, so I will only shoot those 2 for groups tomorrow. No chrony today, but fingers crossed on Benchmark. I started at 38, but made it to the mid 40's before I found obvious pressure.

I shot two Varget groups today out of the 6.5 pistol. One group was 44.0 and the other was 44.3 grains. Both groups were just under 2" at 100 yard, and both exhibiting vertical stringing. I was letting the barrel cool between shots and it never got above "warm" to the touch. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm new to hammers, but have tried to follow the instructions in the "what have we learned thread" as best I could. I'm crimping in the first PDR band and using 3/8's on the LFCD.
 
Anthropas said:
I worked up 3 pressure ladders today for Benchmark, Tac and CFE 223. My pressure ladder group for CFE 223 wasn't nearly as tight as the TAC and Benchmark, so I will only shoot those 2 for groups tomorrow. No chrony today, but fingers crossed on Benchmark. I started at 38, but made it to the mid 40's before I found obvious pressure.

I shot two Varget groups today out of the 6.5 pistol. One group was 44.0 and the other was 44.3 grains. Both groups were just under 2" at 100 yard, and both exhibiting vertical stringing. I was letting the barrel cool between shots and it never got above "warm" to the touch. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm new to hammers, but have tried to follow the instructions in the "what have we learned thread" as best I could. I'm crimping in the first PDR band and using 3/8's on the LFCD.
Click to expand...
How long is the barrel on the pistol? You may not have enough barrel to burn the Varget.
 
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Had some interesting results today with Tac and Benchmark in the 6.5 pistol. The center bull was 4 shots for sighters/fowlers. Upper right target was 42.5gr of benchmark and bottom right was 43.0gr.

Next up was TAC. Upper left was 44.0gr and the bottom left was 44.5gr. Best group was the 44.5 of TAC. Measured about .75”.
 

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